Antarctica: Another Time, Another Place
by Transformers 0
Summary: What is Hykura Island? Where is Hykura Island? Who is Tenodyte? Who is Dion? Who is Telanie? Who is Mordon? What have they got to do with "Antarctica"? And what is happening between the King Penguins and the Royals Penguins? A WAR - that's what! You don't think penguins can have wars? Well, read "Antarctica: Another Time, Another Place"! And then you will believe it!
1. The Last Time - Together as a Family

**Hello, and welcome to **_**Antarctica: Another Time, Another Place**_**.**

**The prequel's story takes place 1 year before the start of **_**Antarctica**_**.**

**None of the main characters are involved – I'm sorry. The main prequel characters are King Penguins and Royal Penguins – again, I'm sorry.**

**But just like the bunch of character microseries in **_**Antarctica**_**, the prequel and its characters will link to the main story – in the future.**

* * *

**Antarctica: Another Time, Another Place**

**The Last Time – Together as a Family**

"Your Majesty! Hykura Island is under attack!" sergeant Ronald shouted.

King Tenodyte turned.

"Send your squads over to Point Norwest, sergeant. Hold the Royal Penguins at bay!" the King ordered.

"Yes sir!"

The King Penguin sergeant hurried to assemble the colony's army. The Royal Penguins charged up the beaches. Squad teams Zam and Icathys came up to brawl. Flippers whacked and beaks jabbed.

* * *

King Tenodyte turned to his wife, daughter and son.

"Tenodyte, honey, let me take Redwood Company to cover the Eastern flank," Queen Dion said.

"Alright dear – my forces will cover the West."

The King and Queen turned to their daughter and son. Princess Telanie was their first child – now grown up – and future ruler of the kingdom. She was graceful and elegant, both in looks and mannerisms. She had the beautiful, sleek silver and golden feathers of a fully-fledged King Penguin.

Prince Mordon was the younger child. But his age was not a sign for him to be underestimated. He was skilled in close combat, for he planned to grow up to be a warrior prince and lead his followers from the front. The school and military teachers spoke very highly of him. But right now, he was still a child – he was still covered in brown, fluffy baby feathers.

"Telanie, sweetie, your father and I are just going to help the soldiers repel the Royals," said Dion softly, "We need you to take Mordon and evacuate with the other children into the grasslands. Stay there until we come for you."

"Yes, Mama," replied Telanie in a small voice. She took Mordon by the flipper and started off with the other departing children on the journey to the grasslands.

"We love you, children!" Tenodyte called after them.

"Take care of each other!" Dion added.

"We will! We love you, Mama and Papa!" shouted Mordon and Telanie from afar.

This was the last time they would be together as a family.

* * *

**What do you think of the first chapter of the prequel to **_**Antarctica**_**, guys?**

**Feel free to comment or review!**


	2. Split Up

**Split Up**

The King and Queen marched their troops side by side, until they came to Quantas Fork. The left path lead West, the right path East.

"This is where our forces separate, honey," Tenodyte said, "See you on the beaches."

"See you there, dear. I love you," replied Dion.

"Love you too, hon," called Tenodyte, bidding his wife goodbye.

* * *

"Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!"

"They're back!" shouted Shawn, a young King Penguin lieutenant. Obe, an old Major, ran up beside him. He shook his head when he saw the second battalion of Royal Penguins charging their way.

"I told you this victory was too easy. The Royals are too dogged to give up," Obe scolded Shawn. Shawn rolled his eyes.

"It wasn't my idea to break cover," retorted Shawn.

"Don't be disrespectful!" Obe snapped, "Alright men, second wave inbound!"

"Bishop! You and your men follow me!" Shawn ordered to his sergeant.

"Yes lieutenant," Bishop complied.

"Bex! Set up your company in concave formation!" Obe instructed.

"Yes Major," said Bex.


	3. Counterattack

**Counterattack**

"What's our plan of attack, sir?" Bishop asked.

"Split your squad in half, and have them attack the enemy's left and right flanks," ordered Shawn.

"All right, men! Canal Team, attack left! Leopard Team, attack right! Let's go!" shouted Bishop.

The squad charged forwards. Shawn stabbed a Royal with his beak, and grabbed another with his flippers.

"Cut down their ranks!" he ordered.

Bishop kicked one of the Royals in the crotch, finishing him with an uppercut. But the fact remained that Shawn's squad was heavily outnumbered. Two soldiers from Leopard Team were taken down by the incoming Royal Penguins.

* * *

"We're gonna need reinforcements!" reported Bex, who was observing the skirmish from the nearby forests.

"Speak of the Devil! Looks like help has arrived!" Obe stuttered, pointing his flipper at King Tenodyte's regiment, which was coming up from behind to support them.

"Charge, men!" urged Tenodyte.

Chanting a battle cry, the battalion _and_ regiment surged forward.

They met the Royal Penguin battalion head-on, slaughtering them. The King Penguins cut down Royal after Royal. King Tenodyte's timely arrival had turned the tide of the battle.

The King himself dispatched the last few Royals. Young lieutenant Shawn waddled up to him.

"Sir! Messenger Qyto from Duckett Regiment is here to deliver an urgent communiqué," Shawn stated.

"Thank you lieutenant. At ease," smiled Tenodyte, "Qyto, you're to come with me."


	4. Grave News

**Grave News**

"What's the news, Qyto?" Tenodyte asked.

"Our intelligence personnel have sighted a reserve company attacking the Eastern flank!" Qyto reported frantically.

"We must hurry," Tenodyte said, realizing what was really going on, "Shawn! Gather some men! We're leaving!"

"Yes sir!" replied the lieutenant.

* * *

"Duke Wenham! How nice of you to invade us!" Queen Dion remarked, "You know I'm being sarcastic, right?"

"As do I, Dion my dear," sneered Wenham. Duke Wenham dispatched four King Penguins single-handedly.

"Why would you do this?!" the queen snapped, sweeping a Royal off his feet with a tail-swipe.

"Isn't it obvious?!" Wenham mocked, "The Aliens destroy our food supply because they think we are weak! Puny! Since you King Penguins aren't doing anything about it, we Royal Penguins have decided to amass an invasion army! First we're going to dominate you, then the Rockhoppers, then the Macaronis – all of the penguins in the world. Then we're going to attack the Aliens!"

"Foolhardy move," said Dion.

"Shall we continue?" derided Wenham.

"My pleasure."

* * *

"Come on! Hurry! We're almost there!" shouted Tenodyte. Shawn's platoon followed him closely.

"Halt!" boomed a voice. Shawn turned and saw a lean, yet strongly built Royal Penguin and his squad.

"I am Lord Zerolq," the Royal calmly stated, "And you wasters will have to go through me _and_ my guard squad if you're going to kill my father!"

"Oh no…" wheezed Shawn.


	5. Sowing the Seeds of War

**Sowing the Seeds of War**

"Halo! Lance! Take your squads and follow me!" thundered Tenodyte, "We're gonna push through!"

"Sir! We'll hold off Zerolq!" squawked Shawn.

Beaks smashed. Flippers thudded. Blood spilled.

* * *

Halo let out a terrible screech as her intestines slowly spilled out from her stab wound. She clutched her abdomen in agony as blood pooled out of her stomach and she choked and coughed out the crimson liquid. Her squad could only watch helplessly as a Royal clamped his beak down hard on her throat and knocked her to the ground – ending her life on this Earth.

The rest of Shawn's squad weren't faring so well either. Hannah and Bronx were slaughtered, then Jon, then Seawhirl. The cries and screams of the dying caught the king's attention. Even though he had almost reached the peak where his wife and Wenham were dueling, he turned around to assess the gravity of the situation and the carnage unfolding before his eyes.

Even though he saw his friends and family getting massacred before his eyes, Tenodyte pushed down the fires of his rage.

"Lance! You and your squad assist them! Trollbane! Lughead! Cover me!"

The three King Penguins charged up the embankment, while Lance lead his squad back down.

* * *

Shawn punched a Royal Penguin with his flipper. Then he spun around to whack another. He jumped and kicked down two Royals. But the opponents were too good. And they just kept on coming.

"Oh shoot!" yelped Shawn, as a Royal pinned him to the ground.

Shawn didn't even have time to comprehend anything before he was impaled by his opponent's beak.

Everything went red.

Then white.

Then finally, black.

* * *

**Stay tuned for the climatic confrontation between King Tenodyte and Duke Wenham!**


	6. Cost

**Cost**

"Let this madness stop at once, Wenham!" screeched Tenodyte, barreling into the Royal.

"Oh this will stop – once you submit to my rules and we attack the aliens!"

"That's crazy!" countered Dion, "No investigation! No negotiation! The aliens are highly powerful! Who in the hell knows what they could do to us?!"

"Well we need direct action!" bellowed Wenham, "And when do we want action boys?"

"Now!" yelled Wenham's elite guard. Their leader lunged forward and stabbed Lance with his beak. King Tenodyte took down four Royal guards, and the rest of the squad took out the remaining two guards – though three more King Penguins were killed.

"Fall back! Help the others!" Tenodyte ordered the remaining squad members. They complied and scuttled down the embankment.

Tenodyte launched himself at Wenham, kicking and whacking. Wenham rolled backwards and spun around, aiming thrusts at Tenodyte's throat. Tenodyte blocked every blow… except the last thrust. With the wind knocked out of him, Tenodyte collapsed forward, at the edge of the cliff face. There were only rocks below.

Wenham could have shoved the King off the cliff, but he chose to impale the monarch instead. He aimed his beak straight at Tenodyte's heart.

A blur of silver, black and yellow crashed into him.

Dion sent herself and Wenham plunging off the cliff face.

**"NO!"**


	7. Mourning Has Come

**Feel free to pelt me with tomatoes, eggs, pies, and all that.**

**I'm truly sorry for not updating sooner. Good thing is that summer holidays are here!**

**I have now modified this story slightly. It is now a Prequel, not a Midquel – and that is how it stays from now on.**

**2 WHOLE MONTHS of writing and freedom! Epic time to spend a summer! Wouldn't you agree?**

**Warnings of Gore! Seriously!**

* * *

**Mourning Has Come**

Tenodyte walked slowly to the edge of the cliff. He was in self-denial. No way this could have happened. No – this must be a nightmare. Or Wenham must have killed him and he was just having his sins cleansed in Penguin Purgatory. No way that Dion could have… could have…

But his worst fears were confirmed when he saw his lover's body, smashed on the rocks. The Duke's body was also nearby, impaled back-first on a rock spire, but Tenodyte felt indifference to the Royal Penguin's end. His wife looked in worse shape, with her flippers bent at odd angles, feet snapped and blood dripping from her ankles. But the worst was to come.

As he slowly brought his gaze upon her head, he couldn't even gasp in horror as he saw what the fall on the rocks had done to her head. Dion had fallen face-first, the rock pushing her beak all the way through her head. The grey insides of her head, mixed with her liquid vitalities oozed out and around, covering her cranial area and the cold stone below it. Tenodyte stared at her, for what seemed like an eternity. Whether time had stopped, or actual years had passed while he paid no heed to his environment, he didn't care.

Finally, he let out a few strangled squawks of unadulterated anguish and passed out on the rocks, barely remembering the footsteps of his soldiers nearby.

* * *

"Your Majesty…"

When he came to, it was the dawn of the next day. He spotted his surviving members of the battle around him. He looked at the surroundings – they were still at the same place. Though apparently the bodies had been cleared, marks of the battle still lay. A torn flipper, shattered mandibles and bones, eye-gore, patches of blood… Wait… The bodies had been cleared?

"Where is her body?" he asked, grief paining his throat. When his eyesight adjusted, he could finally see tears glistening in all of his soldiers.

"We are sorry, sir. The sea washed her body away. Only the Duke's body remains, stabbed on that spike," Lughead replied, quiet and solemn. The rest of the king penguins waited in trepidation. This was their kingdom's darkest day. A significant number of king penguins had been killed – already adding to the problem of trying not to lose too many members in the Food Crisis.

They all spent a few minutes in silence, waiting for their monarch to rebuild his will. And even though the burden and tragedy crushed him, Tenodyte knew he would have to lead again.

"The Royals retreated, I presume?" he asked with half-certainty.

"Yes sir, but the Duke's son, Lord Zerolq, managed to survive and has retreated. Sir, Hykura Island is safe for now, but we've lost many of our penguins, and while the Royals have retreated in a small fraction of their invasion force, I will bet my feathers that they'll just regain their numbers before attacking again," Lughead spoke, his thoughts and fears honest.

"Thank you for the report, old friend. Now I want your men to split into teams and scout the island for our surviving ranks. I will head to the grasslands to check the children," the king declared.

* * *

"Bex? Obe? Quarron? Any commanders out there?" Trollbane hawked. The female captain gave out the signal hooting to tell other king penguins in hiding that the battle was over. A rustle came from some nearby bushes and Sergeant Quarron waddled out, her own surviving squad members behind her.

"Ah, relief," Trollbane sighed, inspecting the recent arrivals, "How did you fare?"

"Thank 'Guin, we only had one casualty," Quarron reported, her voice shaking slightly and her feathers ruffling a little.

"Now we need to find the others. I think Bex and Obe are the closest to our position," Trollbane replied.

"Let's move out!" Quarron ordered to the groups.

* * *

Bex was checking over the wounded. Oh how she wished that penguins had some way to treat injuries. Light wounds penguins could live with, but unfortunate souls with fatal, agonizing gashes and mutilations could only pray and beg for a mercy death via a beak to the head or heart.

The screaming was almost unbearable. And even the blood… Even though they were predators who spilled the blood of fishes, it was a part of the Universal Penguin Honour Code to give their meals the good grace of a quick kill. But when at war, mercy becomes a casualty. Penguin blood stained the sand and wavered in the tides.

Seeing mutilated and severed flippers, feet and heads was just the frost at the top of the ice.

Suddenly Bex heard two voices squawking in the distance. The voices called out to her, solemn and strong. _"It's Trollbane and Quarron!"_ she thought, relief finally flowing through her numb casket of a body. She gave orders to her men to finish off dealing with the wounded while she waddled off to greet the others.

"Trollbane, Quarron. What was our heaviest casualty?"

"It was Queen Dion," Trollbane replied, inwardly flinching when the two sergeants gave her looks of utter shock and dread. The captain hadn't reported _that_ until now. "How's the King taking it?" Quarron asked uncertainly. "He's taking it on the chin. He's grieving, but he's checking that the children are alright," Trollbane sighed.

"Oh Great 'Guin, help our kingdom Lord, we beseech you," Bex hooted lowly to the Heavens, asking in her mind what kind of plan the Great 'Guin had that required so much suffering and bloodshed. The three commanders stood there in silence, neither for once not knowing what to do or say. Everything was starting to crumble.

"We should regroup and head back home," Trollbane finally ordered, pushing the crushing events to the back of her mind. There were issues that had to be dealt with right now.

"Yes ma'am," both sergeants replied and saluted, getting the captain's drift.

* * *

"My children! It is safe to come out of hiding!" Tenodyte squawked loud and clear to the chicks hiding in the grasslands. They came out, shaken and maybe a bit traumatized, but most were grateful that it was finally over.

"Where are my son and daughter? I need to break words with them, however," the monarch inquired, inspecting the batches for his two loved ones. He soon found bittersweet success.

"We are here, father," Telanie spoke when she and her brother finally reached him. Mordon stood stick-straight at attention. "Where is mother?" Telanie asked, already feeling apprehension at somewhat knowing the answer. She could put two and two together and was a soul that hungered for truth, no matter how horrible it was or how hard it may be to find.

"She was killed in action, my children. We have won. But I… I have failed you… as a father…" Tenodyte hung his head. But even as the shock and the immense emotional pain grasped the hearts of his children, they steadied themselves.

"It wasn't your fault, father. It was the Royals'," Mordon spoke up, flippers embracing his father.

"If they want a war, we'll give them one," Telanie said, her voice rising from cold grief to icy anger.

"And we will. If we want to keep the peace and solve the Food Crisis properly, the matter must be handled with precision. We can't let the Royals attack the Aliens," the father declared.

"What now, though?" Mordon queried, his gaze icy and hiding his grief.

"We spend today and tomorrow clearing the bodies and mourning the souls lost. Then afterwards, we all will declare a state of war on the Royals."

"And so it begins," Telanie said, following her father's orders as she went off to round up the younger chicks.

"I'll begin the clean-up," Mordon stated, saluting his father before marching stoically off to see the bodies of his people.

* * *

_"Oh Great 'Guin... Why must we do this? Send us a sign of your will, and that will be enough to make us follow you."_

* * *

**Well… that's a sad Christmas update for you all… ironic, isn't it?**

**Please leave a review…**


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